WOW! When people first heard of a Marvel tv show being set in continuity with the Marvel movie franchise AND that it was going to be directed by the biggest Nerd Director for TV, I think the first thing that came to my mind was WAHOO! My favorite tv director/writer will be writing a tv show that is set in the same franchise as my favorite movie franchise. You can see why I chose this to go alongside my movie reviews.
But the second thing I thought about was how awesome it would actually be for a tv show to stay in continuity and bounce back and forth between Movie and TV, and they finally did it. I know the pilot was technically like that, but that was more like the show collecting everything obvious from the marvel movies and throwing them together as a way to get all their eggs in one basket. This time, they successfully created a great plot around something "related" to a movie tying in to the recent Thor movie, without outright taking writing material from it.
The story is for once, an Agent Ward episode, with the episode discussing some more about the tragic past of his childhood. We see hints to one tragic incident that we believe to be his past (which is by the way some of the best cinematic directing found in television ever), only to pull a twist that makes more sense with his placement in his family.
I'm definitely not going to spoil too much sense I really think this is some of Jed Whedon's best work. That's right, I said Jed, not Joss. For a show advertised as being directed and written by Joss Whedon, the guy has actually only written the pilot episode (though Wikipedia seems to think that the next episode will be co-written by him), and Jed was also co-writing that episode. Now, Jed has actually co-written only four episodes (the pilot, the second, the third and this episode). The fourth episode was actually one of my favorite episodes and it introduced an obscure but interesting villain from the comics in a new and perhaps better light. Jed has written two episodes I don't really like, but he has also written two episodes I really do, so I'm going to give him the same anticipation I gave his brother.
The plot of this episode goes as such: It's the aftermath of Thor: The Dark World and Coulson's team is leading the clean-up crew when a case of "super" has been detected in the Netherlands. It is revealed that an ancient Asgardian weapon, known as the Berzerker staff, has been unearthed and it has the power to unleash untapped rage and strength from the whoever touches it. And a cult of Norse-Pagans are planning on using the power to go to war with the earth.
Coulson enlists the reluctant help of the expert on Norse Mythology, who he consulted off-screen during the events of the first Thor. It is revealed that this so-called, expert, isn't exactly getting his information second hand. He's the Asgardian who hid the Berzerker Staff in the first place and just wants to be left alone.
Ward accidentally touches the staff and it unleashes some pretty unhappy memories he kept buried deep inside and he isn't acting like his normal self, acting like a regular angry jerk. Realizing soon after a quick talk with Melinda May, he tries to correct his behavior and he learns to focus his rage to protect the entire group from the army of Angry Norse-Pagans. Only to be upstaged by Melinda who uses all three pieces of the Berzeker staff at once to defeat the leaders of the Cult.
This is a great episode. I love Simmons being incredibly reluctant to believe any idea of Magic. I love how Fritz's character growth has stayed, with him now being the straight man to Simmons's jumpy-ness. And the ending was VERY shocking and interesting. I wasn't exactly liking the whole Skye-Ward relationship they were making and they've finally gone and pushed Ward in another, more character driving path.
I'm not going to spoil what happened this time around since anything that happens to Ward's character is now worthy of spoilers, but I just have this to say. The only three episodes where Ward got any character growth were co-written by Jed Whedon, so I'd put my money on any episode later including him to have some more Ward growth.
cya guys later, and tah tah for now
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